Low Carbon Business Support: Kingsway Laundry

The challenge

A high hot water usage and customer demand for fast washing and drying services means laundry businesses share significant energy challenges, despite normally occupying small premises. Kingsway Laundry were consuming a lot of gas for their dryers and old water heater which fed their washing machines. This heater stored unused hot water and frequently required maintenance, making it wasteful and inefficient. Uninsulated pipework to washing machines also meant valuable heat was being lost along the way. Aware of these issues, Director Chris Hills had ambitions to reduce their heavy reliance on gas and upgrade to a more efficient heating system.

Chris has been “very impressed” with how efficiently the air-source heat pumps have heated up their water and kept up with customer demand during peak times, especially in the winter. He estimates they are operating between 300% and 400% efficiency most of the time. The solar panels have also exceeded expectations.

Having discovered from the Carbon Survey that a lot of energy was being used out-of-hours, Chris has also carried out ‘quick fixes’ by "using timers and removing unnecessary items", as well as "adding thick insulation around our water tank and all hot water pipes."

Looking to the future

Having installed an air-to-water heat pump system and solar panels, Kingsway Laundry plans to continue making carbon-saving improvements. These include adding auto-dosing detergent to washers, reducing packaging waste, as well as motion sensors for lighting. They also plan to install more solar panels and a large storage battery “to help cover even more of our electrical usage, especially when charging the electric vehicles.”

Chris did acknowledge the difficulty of replacing his gas dryers with electric models, as a drying cycle would take a lot longer, but would be keen to make the switch if the technology improves in the future.

Chris Hills says

"I think [small and medium enterprises] are essential [to drive down greenhouse gas emissions]… it is maybe easier for a smaller business to make changes in a timely manner and, as there are so many of us, we can make a large difference as a group."

"We think being ‘green’ and responsible is incredibly important, and being seen to do so helps others follow suit. It is also very important to our customers and business clients wanting to ensure their own laundry is being processed responsibly. With the price of gas going up so dramatically recently, moving from gas to electric water heating has helped us financially too."